Monarchs No. 6 in Final The Sports Network FCS Top-25 Poll

PHILADELPHIA - Old Dominion University football finished No. 6 in the final The Sports Network Top-25 poll for the season.

ODU finished the season with an 11-2 overall record and advanced to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs.

North Dakota State defeated Sam Houston State 39-13 in the FCS Championship game on Saturday for the second-straight year and was voted No. 1.

Sam Houston State (11-4) was voted second on 128 of the 142 ballots. Coach Willie Fritz's Bearkats, the Southland Conference co-champions, finished behind North Dakota State in the point total, 3,550 to 3,386.

The first teams outside the Top 25 were Eastern Illinois, the Ohio Valley Conference champion, and Indiana State, which handed North Dakota State its only loss of the season, 17-14 on Oct. 13.

The CAA finished with the most teams in the Top 25 with six, followed by the Big Sky with four and the Missouri Valley and SoCon with three each. There were two teams each from the Southland, Big South and Patriot League, and one each from the MEC, NEC and Ohio Valley Conference.

A national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries selected the Top 25 throughout the season. A first-place vote was worth 25 points, a second-place vote 24 points, all the way down to one point for a 25th-place vote.